Some embodiments described herein relate generally to systems, methods, and apparatus for reverse geocoding. For example, some embodiments described herein can enable geolocation data, for example, received from a mobile phone, to be associated with a real estate parcel and/or household address.
Reverse geocoding refers to correlating location data, such as Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses, cell-site location data, or latitude-longitude (lat-long) data to a point of interest, such as a state, city, neighborhood, etc. For example, existing techniques include using IP lookup tables to provide a rough estimate of the location of a computer requesting data, or identifying known landmarks, such as the Washington Monument or the White House, closest to received lat-long data, (e.g., a “reverse-GPS lookup”). Known reverse-GPS look up methods make use of general purpose mapping services, which are typically designed for roads and are not coded or not accurately coded with addresses. Therefore, known reverse-GPS look up methods are not able to reliably determine an address associated with the location. For example, some general purpose mapping services may only be coded with the block number (e.g., the 1100 block of 8th St.) and may return the middle of the block for any address on that block, or may divide the block into equal squares that do not accurately correspond to address on that block. While such methods may be suitable for providing driving directions, they are insufficient for associating GPS data with a household address. Because known reverse geocoding techniques do not possess sufficient accuracy and/or granularity to link location data to a household address, a need exists for improved methods to link location data to household addresses using, for example, real estate parcel data.